Opaque World
by Andrew Joshua Talon
Summary: A nonSI gasp first chapter to a Round Robin Arc yours truly is contributing to. I'm putting it up for reader review and feedback, so don't take it too seriously. KMut, N?


*****Opaque World*****

Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: Love Hina and Blue Sub 6 are not my properties. No profit whatsoever is being made off this fan work. It's for pure recreation ^_^.

NOTE: This is a pretty general challenge from Minna-san, to a large group of authors. Since she chose me to start this thing (I have no idea why, though), I have decided to make this into a crossover fanfiction. Love Hina seems to attract crossovers than almost any other anime, aside from the Excel Saga. I know, I didn't reserve a character, Minna-san, so I'm going to do one short establishment piece for Keitaro and Mutsumi, and make some references to the others. I had to get off the computer and do my homework for summer school -_-* But enough. I hope you enjoy this, and don't want to slit my throat after you read it ^_^

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DECEMBER 19th

Stars. I've always loved to just sit back at night, lift up my eyes, and gaze in wonder at these beautiful jewels of the Universe.

As I look up at the sky now, I can see thousands of stars. Millions, winking and sparkling in the abyss of night. I stare at them, mentally tracing a few constellations I know. Cancer, Aquilla...

I cast my gaze down, watching the water lap at the building's walls five stories below. Nearby, the dark outlines of other buildings, also standing against the relentless sea, sit like great rocks in the surf. I watch, letting my mind wander with the hypnotic rhythm of the splashing waves against stone.

"Can't sleep, Kei-kun?"

I turn, and smile a bit sheepishly. I guess I do look a sight, standing in my bare feet and pajamas in the cold night air. Standing at the door, wrapped in a blanket, stands Mutsumi Otohime, her warm smile as comforting as it was when I first met her. I shrug, reaching up and cupping the back of my head.

"No. Kind of hard, with what's happening tomorrow." Mutsumi nodded understandingly, stepping out onto the cold stone. I knit my brow.

"Mutsumi, should you really be out here? I mean, it's pretty cold, and with you being... You know..." I trail off. Mutsumi shifted her blanket around a bit, allowing her belly to peek through under her nightdress. Her large, six months pregnant belly. She shrugs, still smiling.

"Pregnant? I'm fine, Kei-kun, don't worry." She walks across the balcony, and sidles alongside me, looking at me intently. I shift a bit.

"Now, what's wrong?" I start a bit, and hold up my hand with a nervous smile on my face.

"Nothing's wrong, really," I sooth, unconvincingly. Mutsumi sighs, shaking her head, her smile still in place.

"You don't have to lie to me, Keitaro," she presses gently. I roll my eyes, and sigh.

"Well... the Blue 6 is coming back tomorrow." She nods.

"Yes, and?"

"And... Naru and Motoko... They'll be back too... And I don't know how I'm going to be able to talk to her. About me, you... This," I indicate her torso. She nods thoughtfully, pulling the blankets a bit more closely around herself.

"I also heard that Seta and Haruka will be back, tomorrow, aboard that American sub, what was it...?"

"The _Virginia_. Yeah, but..." Mutsumi sighs, and takes my hand. She squeezes it affectionately, gazing deeply into my eyes. I can't help gazing back, her brown pools something I wish I could get lost in and never come out again. She shakes her head, and pats her belly.

"Keitaro, if... If you still love her... I can go away." My eyes grow wide.

"What?!"

"I can go away, far away, maybe America. I can have our baby there, and raise him... or her... Without Naru-chan knowing." She looks at me very seriously, her hand still on her belly in a self conscious freeze.

"I just want you to be happy, and not... Not to feel like you have to stay with me. If you want to be with Naru, I'll understand. And I'll just leave." I grip her arms tightly, returning her serious gaze.

"No! No, Mutsumi, don't even think that! I don't want you to leave, to feel like a burden, because you're not. I... I love you, all right? I'm just concerned, because... She probably thinks we're still, you know..." Mutsumi nodded, slipping her hands to hold my arms.

"I'll be there with you, and so will Kitsune and Kanako. And Haruka-san, too. And we can all talk it out, all right? And... Well... Naru will probably need our support more than ever. She's been in the war ever since last year. But we'll pull through, because we'll be together," she finishes, a determined look on her face. I nod, taking a deep breath. I'm not completely reassured, but if Mutsumi's confident about it, I'm not going to argue

"I know. We'll have to make sure she doesn't try to kill herself or something," I say, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. I bury my face in her long hair, breathing deeply as she strokes the back of my head.

"Yes, we will... They say that we won." I shrug, nuzzling Mutsumi's cheek.

"I guess so. They managed to stop the pole shift, so there's still dry land, but..." I sigh deeply.

Almost everyone at the Hinata Sou had signed up for the military when Zorndyke's first pole shift had occurred, a couple years ago. I managed to get through the first physical exam, and did the basic training, but before I could be assigned to a ship, the training center was attacked and I was set back with two broken legs. Naru and Motoko went into the Blue Fleet, while Shinobu was assigned to the JDSF. Kitsune didn't make it, given her drinking "habit", and Kanako couldn't deal with the authority, so she headed out with Suu and Sarah for wherever a Tama Sub would take them. Mutsumi and I were alone, in her Tokyo apartment. And with her...

This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was. The girl I might have loved, and two girls who might have loved me, weren't supposed to be at war, fighting and risking their lives to save humanity. My mentor and my aunt weren't supposed to have been across the Pacific when this happened, weren't supposed to also be fighting monsters of a madman's temper tantrum. My parents and family weren't supposed to have been killed on vacation. I wasn't supposed to leave the Hinata, with Toudai virtually destroyed and my dreams gone forever.

I wasn't supposed to have fallen in love with this woman, and conceived a child with her out of wedlock. 

I was supposed to have married Naru, gone to Tokyo U, and lived happily ever after with everyone else at the Hinata. That's it. That's all I wanted...

"We don't have the luxury of deciding what fate has in store for us," Mutsumi mutters in my ear, "only of deciding what to do with what we're given." I pull back, and look her in the eyes, a bit shocked. She smiles comfortingly, pulling me into her warm embrace. I lean against her, sighing.

"Some reunion tomorrow..."

"At least we have one... Ara, it's so cold..." I gently pull her along with me, back into our modest apartment. I pull the glass door securely shut, thanking whatever God above that Kyoto hadn't been attacked by Zorndyke's forces. Why our city had been spared, I'll probably never know. But, every noise at night I hear, like the distant explosions of a few days ago, makes me sweat and pray.

I part the covers and help Mutsumi slide in first, as she awkwardly wriggles into the covers. I slide in beside her, and, like every night, we pull each other close and pull the covers over ourselves. I kiss her goodnight, and close my eyes, trying not to cringe at the creaks that sound in the walls when the wind blows.

**********

Well, that's my chapter, Minna-san and everyone. I know, it's probably a major departure from what you guys were thinking of, but I'm kind of part of a BS6 RPG, and the idea for this kind of crossover has been running around in my head for a while. Also, this is just the rough draft. I'd appreciate comments and helpful criticism from all of you.

Meanwhile, for those of you who don't know what Blue Sub 6 is, here's a short summary if we decide to continue the story in this vein:

Blue Sub No. 6 takes place in the near future. A few years (two to six) before the show, a brilliant scientist named Zorndyke, disgusted with the spread of humanity over the Earth, and their wanton use of Earth's resources, creates a machine that shifts the poles, and melts large portions of the polar ice caps. The resulting flooding covers cities around the world very quickly, killing billions. Zorndyke also uses his abilities to create numerous species of generically altered and enhanced animals to live with and serve him in his new Empire, which he bases at the South Pole (which is now becoming a tropical paradise due to his alterations and geothermal equipment).

These creatures include normal human sized animals such as bipedal sharks, mermaid like creatures, and cat like land dwellers amongst others. To help finish his designs of the destruction of the human race, Zorndyke also creates ocean going fighting constructs, which include large sentient whale like creatues armed with sonic weapons, torpedo mounts, and small fighter craft called Umi Gumo (Water Spiders). Other fighting vessels include altered Grey Whales, as well as the Nagato Wonder, an old WWII battleship mounted on an enormous genetically engineered shark for surface and underwater movement, and equipped with missiles and torpedos.

The remaining nations of the world form a force, called the Blue Fleet, to stop Zorndyke and correct the pole shift, to prevent further flooding, as well as stop the near constant raids Zorndyke sends out against what remains of coastal dwelling humanity. Each nation capable pours their resources into building one super advanced submarine, as well as assigning what little remains of their conventional submarine fleets after the constant combat with Zorndyke's forces. Blue Sub No 6 is Japan's contribution, with other nations such as the US providing Blue Sub No 1 (also known as Coback), India with Blue Sub No 8, China with Blue Sub No 10, and France with Blue Sub No 3.

The show details the Blue Fleet's final offensive against Zorndyke's South Pole Empire before he is able to make the pole shift permanent.

So, yes, if everyone would like to keep with this, I'm fine, but if you'd like me to re-write the story to a more conventional theme, I'm perfectly willing to do so. Thank you.

~Talon


End file.
